In an effort to coerce the public into believing that Windows Vista really wasn’t a failure, Microsoft released a series of ads featuring the illustrious, and hilarious, Jerry Seinfeld with hopes that the commercials would restore the faith of the non-believers (who may have moved on to better things—like the Church of Apple).

The 90-second clip makes no mention of Vista’s features, and the segment resembles a scene from a sitcom rather than a commercial advertisement. In the clip, Seinfeld discovers Bill Gates trying on leather shoes at a discount shoe store. Seinfeld joins the former-CEO for some shoe-shopping fun, engaging Gates in a conversation about how to break in leather shoes. Riveting stuff.

One would think that there would be a hidden, subliminal message (watch out for that “delicious cake” metaphor at the end of the clip—Vista is indigestible, despite what they say), but the advertisement seems to be a serious attempt from Microsoft to draw in more faithfuls and appeal to an edgier crowd (similar to how Apple hired Justin Long for their television commercials). I suppose it would be fair to say to Microsoft, Good Luck.

At least the commercials are funny. If this whole software/hardware thing doesn’t work out for Gates, he could always try comedy. Now, that I would pay to see.